


Valentine's Day Beanbag Nap

by LadyRavenEye



Series: Femslash February 2016 [4]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Femslash February, Fluff, Pearlmethyst Bomb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-12
Updated: 2016-02-12
Packaged: 2018-05-20 00:38:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5986426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyRavenEye/pseuds/LadyRavenEye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amethyst wheedles Pearl into taking a special Valentine's Day nap. Inspired by bambiarts <a href="http://bambiarts.tumblr.com/post/139067479428/beanbag-nap">precious fan art</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Valentine's Day Beanbag Nap

**Author's Note:**

> For the Pearlmethyst Bomb! Prompt is "Valentine's Day." 
> 
> I originally wrote this in my standard third person limited past tense. But Opal's section was itching to be written in second person, which I have literally never written in before. [CompletelyDifferent](http://archiveofourown.org/users/completelydifferent) suggested I switch Amethyst's POV to the same and add a Pearl section, and I rather like how it all turned out! 
> 
> Since it's February, I'm putting this in my Femslash February series, because I've been seriously slacking on that.

As Pearl relaxes by inches beneath you, you allow yourself the smallest swell of triumph. Your plan is actually working! 

“You swear you’ll sleep too, Amethyst,” she says. “You won’t watch me and then make fun of me, like you  _ always do _ ?”

“Pierogie, how many times do I gotta say it,” you say, enjoying the way Steven’s beanbag chair squishes beneath the both of you as you press further against Pearl’s physical form. “Special Valentine’s Day nap. I promise, I’ll sleep too. How long have we been planning this?”

Pearl’s legs are propped on either side of you, knees sharp in the air.  They had started rigid and almost clenched around your middle, but now they are slowly sagging away from each other and toward the floor--another sign gravity and you are winning the fight against Pearl’s dislike for sleeping.

“Eighteen days,” Pearl muffles into your hair.

It had been an especially frigid winter in Beach City and Pearl had always been more affected by the weather than the rest of you. The cold made her miserable and her misery made her stressed. There was a cure, discovered after a few years of Pearl accidentally and “very rarely” falling asleep on you as you cuddled: Pearl had to take a nap herself. 

Unfortunately Pearl was good at finding excuses to avoid deliberate sleep, so you had come up with the Valentine’s Day Nap Plan. Pearl had grumbled about harebrained  hagiographies and nagged you not to make fun of her projected dreamscapes about a thousand times, but it would all be worth it in the end. Really, it already is--Pearl’s chin is resting against the top of your head, and the lack of complaining means she’s probably already asleep. You grin into Pearl’s neck, and find yourself drifting off as well.

 

~~~~

 

It’s not as if you don’t know the occasional nap is good for you. It’s just that you know definitively that you do not like naps. 

Certainly, it’s not the cuddling you mind. Amethyst has an almost  siren-esque snugglability, with her petite plumpness and her marvelous hair. You love the way your limbs entwine; you love her soft snuffling breaths; you love her tiny twitches. 

And fine,  _ sometimes  _ you fall asleep--very rarely--and it  _ can be  _ nice. Anyway, it’s not the sleeping that bothers you--it’s the dreams.

You pretend that Amethyst teasing you about your dreamscapes makes you irritated, and it’s not that it doesn’t. It’s just that irritation is a thousand times preferred to introspection, when it comes to a lot of your dreams. Amethyst knows that, and she plays along anyway, and you love that about her too.

Temperature isn’t supposed to really affect Gems, since as a species you were made to colonize the most radical climates of space. You’re not sure if it’s because you’re a pearl or because you’re Pearl, but the cold really does bother you, and this winter has been utterly abysmal.

You don’t agree right away to the Valentine’s Day Nap Plan (and what kind of a name is that, anyway?) But you really hate to see Amethyst worry when she notices how you draw your arms around yourself and shiver, so it’s not long before you relent. You think it’s probably worth the aggravation when you see the grin that splits her face, and you know for sure it is when you hear the happiness in her voice as you lie pressed together on the legume stuffed chair.

 

~~~~

 

You feel warm, and it’s so, so,  _ so  _ nice. You let out a hum, and consider opening your eyes--no, not just yet, you like the feeling of letting them adjust to being awake in the darkness. You like how that darkness is slowly being filled with soft light, and you take a moment to appreciate your eyelids. You kind of like your whole face, really--big eyes, plump limps, excellent nose. Your lashes flutter but you keep your eyes shut for a while longer. You settle backward onto a soft material with a very pleasant  _ squish swish squish  _ feeling, and hey, it turns out your hair is great too, you had forgotten. 

You figure now’s as good a time as any to open your eyes, so you do. The ceiling above you is familiar enough to not be a concern, so you turn your focus back to your body. The upper half is on that nice squish-swishy blob. You dig all four elbows into it and wriggle, and you  _ really  _ like how you seem to melt into the material, how it envelopes your arms and torso. Your bottom half is sprawled on a wooden floor, which isn’t as nice as the squish-swish, but isn’t bad, considering. 

You vault upward with a flourish, just because you can. Clasp both sets of hands and push them palms out in front of you, swiveling your shoulders out and up around your head, stretching your back as well as your arms. You’re lithe and you’re strong and you’re honestly a bit too tall for this little house. The thought of bumping your head on a beam makes you chuckle, and the sound is musical and utterly lovely.

The screen door crashes open, which makes you jump and twirl toward the sound.

“Pear-rrl! Amethyst! I’m ho--Opal!” It’s Steven! You love Steven.  

“Opal!” He says again. Right, because it’s your name. “It’s amazing to see you. Happy Valentine’s Day!” Steven rushes toward you and you open all of your arms for his hug. His mass of black curls tickles your chin, which is a little weird.

“Remember not to overdo the shapeshifting, little one,” you say, your tone an easy mix of maternal concern and playfulness.

“Um, what?” he says. He’s also shifted some hair onto his face, the scamp. 

“Remember, stretching too long can have consequences,” you say. Then you frown, because Steven is giggling.

“Opal, I’m not shapeshifting,” he says. “I’ve just grown. Humans do that.”

“But aren’t you half Gem?” he’s confusing you, but you’re not annoyed. It’s hard to be annoyed with Steven. It’s hard to be annoyed at all.

“Yeah, but I still grow,” he says. “Pearl says I’m almost as big as mom now.”

There is a feeling like wistfulness inside you, and for a brief moment, you can feel something like a crack down the middle of your Gems. But you look down at Steven’s beaming face and come back to yourself--you are Opal, giant woman, strong and beautiful and warm.

“Pearl and Amethyst said they’d help me make a Valentine’s Day card for Connie once they were done napping. D’you think you’d like to--”

“Of course!” you say. Cutting out shapes is your favorite. You like the symmetry and how the scissors slice across the paper. You spread your arms wide, and strike a pose.

“Dear Carol--”

“Connie.”

“Dear Connie, you are even better than bees or the bubonic plague. Love, Steven.”

“The what and the what now?”

“Is that not what the human Valentine stood for? Bees and the plague?”

“Mostly love, I think,” Steven says, eyes twinkling.

_ Mostly love _ . You like that a lot. 

You think this might just be your favorite holiday.


End file.
